“Google has launched a new entertainment service with amazing deals on high-profile ebooks and music – deals that Amazon has quietly matched.

Google Play is a single online store selling movies, Android apps, music and ebooks. Bringing together a series of pre-existing online stores, the service launched yesterday by announcing a week of 25 cent deals on big-name music, book and movie titles, many of which, including those on ebook editions of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “Fight Club”, have been matched by Amazon.”

“The message is clear: Books are just one type of content that Google sells, and the company wants to offer them as part of an iTunes-like ecosystem rather than as a separate storefront.”

A Wired report says it’s not only about being like iTunes, but being like Apple AND Amazon, and even Microsoft (remember them) in that Google Play is … cloud-based.

Of course, Google also immediately got a taste of what it was in for in this particular war: Owen notes that Amazon immediately “dropped the price ofExtremely Loud and Incredibly Close to $0.25.” (And we all got a taste of what Barnes & Noble might be in for, too — the Nook edition is still $7.03.)”

The 25¢ deals are scheduled only through this week (hopefully they keep it around for longer). But hey, Fight Club for 25¢? Sweet.